Perforated heat sealable bag, and method of use



1964 J. D. SYLVESTER ETAL 3,162,353

PERFORATED HEAT SEALABLE BAG, AND METHOD OF USE Filed July 27. 1962 FIG. 3

INVENTORS- JOHN D. SILVESTER GENE G. CIGNOLI 14 i i 28 K9 ATTORNEY $2M M M United States Patent Ofiice 3,162,353 Patented Dec. 22, 1964 3,162,353 PERFQRATED HEAT SEALABLE BAG, AND

METHQD F USE John 1). Sylvester, Garden City, and Gene G. Cignoii,

New Hyde Park, N.Y., assignors to Amsco Packaging Machinery, Inc, Long Island City, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed July 27, 1962, Ser. No. 212,852 2 Claims. (Cl. 22953) This invention relates to a heat scalable bag of unique construction for packaging mechandise, and coordinately to a method of employing such a bag in the production of a sealed merchandise package. More particularly, the invention involves means to facilitate the opening, by the ultimate purchaser, of a merchandise package made of polyethylene sheeting or other thermoplastic sheet material.

Bags of the type to which this invention relates comprise two opposed rectangular walls of thermoplastic sheet material joined along their bottom and side edges but free along their top edges whereby the latter define the filling opening of the bag. In the past, to facilitate opening of these bags, the bag walls have been provided, by the bag manufacturer, with coincident lines of perforations close and parallel to the bottom edge of the bag, i.e. the edge opposite to the filling opening. This particular orientation of the lines of perforations has been chosen since such perforations are most convenient to produce inasmuch as they lie in the direction in which the bag material is moved through the bag-making apparatus. After these bags are filled and sealed, they may be opened readily by pulling the bag material so that it tears along the perforated lines. Bags of the type just described have proven satisfactory from the point of view of opening of the bag. However, they present serious disadvantages to the packager, particularly with respect to loading of the bags, since the presence of the perforations weakens the bottom of the bag to a considerable extent. Consequently, when the merchandise is inserted into the bag through the filling opening, and pushed against the bottom of the bag in order to strip the latter from the bag loading unit, the bag has a tendency to rupture along the perforated lines.

It is a primary object of this invention to overcome this disadvantage by providing heat scalable bags with means to facilitate opening of the bags which do not interfere with the bag loading operation. According to the present invention, the bag walls are provided with coincident lines of perforations close and parallel to one of the side edges of the bag, i.e. perpendicular to the bottom edge and filling opening of the bag. It will be appreciated, therefore, that since the perforations extend in the same direction as that in which the merchandise is pushed against the bottom of the bag, there is no tendency for the bag to rupture in the perforated region.

Placing the perforations along a side edge of the bag is not in itself always sufiicient, however, to alleviate the problem of bag rupture during the loading-operation, since the bag is often subjected to a lateral stress in the region of the filling opening by guide elements commonly employed to hold open the filling opening preparatory to the insertion of an article of merchandise into the bag. A particular feature of this invention, therefore, resides in terminating the lines of perforation short of the filling opening so that the region adjacent to the filling opening which is engaged by the guide elements remains imperforate and hence resistant to rupture. Extending the perforations for less than the full length of the bag does not reduce the effectiveness of the perforations with respect to opening of the sealed merchandise package since bags of the type described are always sealed along a line spaced from the filling opening and the lines of perforations may safely be extended far enough to insure that they will be intersected by the sealing line. As a result the sealed merchandise package has a line of perforations extending the full length of one of its sides.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a heat scalable bag formed in acordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the step of loading the bag with merchandise; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the step of sealing the loaded bags to produce closed merchandise packages.

The bag chosen for illustration comprises two opposed rectangular walls 10 and 11 of heat scalable material, such as transparent polyethylene film, joined along three edges and unconnected along the fourth. If the bag is formed of so-called J stock, i.e. sheet material folded longitudinally to form two superposed plies one of which is wider than the other, which has been heat sealed along spaced transverse lines to produce a series of bags, the bottom edge 12 of the bag is a folded edge, the side edges 13 and 14 of the bag are heat sealed edges, and the top edges 15 and 16 of the bag walls 10 and 11 respectively are out of alignment whereby the upper portion of one of the bag walls, in this case the wall 11, forms an extension which facilitates handling and loading of the bag. The edges 15 and 16 of the bag walls are unconnected and thereby define the filling opening of the bag.

When the bag is to be filled wtih the merchandise to be packaged, it is brought to a loading apparatus which in most cases includes means for spreading and holding open the filling opening of the bag so that the article of merchandise may be readily inserted into it. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the spreading and holding means may comprise a pair of channel shaped guide elements 19 and 20 pivotally mounted, at 21 and 22 respectively, on a framework (not shown). Normally, the elements 19 and 20 converge toward the location of the bag during filling but when a bag reaches the loading position, the elements are pivoted in the direction of the arrows in FIG. 2 to the position shown wherein they are parallel. As a result, the elements 19 and 20 enter the filling opening and press outwardly against the portion of the bag walls ad- I jacent to the filling opening. The product 23 is next in serted into the bag until it contacts the bottom edge 12 and is then urged further so that it presses against the bottom of the bag and thereby strips the bag from the elements 19 and 20.

The filled bag is then delivered to a sealing station which may include, for example, a pair of heated sealing rollers, one of which 24 is shown in FIG. 3. The bag is moved between the sealing rollers and the bag walls 10 and 11 are fused along a sealing line 27 spaced from and parallel to the filling opening and closely adjacent to the product within the bag. Simultaneously, the portion of the bag above the sealing line 27 is severed from the remainder of the bag and discarded. As a result of the sealing operation, a finished merchandise package 28 is produced.

The bag and method of filling and sealing it described thus far are entirely conventional. The present invention is concerned with facilitating the opening of the merchandise package 28.

According to the invention, the bag wall 10 is provided with a line of perforations 29 spaced a short distance from and parallel to one of the side edges of the bag, in this case the side edge 14. Similarly, the bag wall 11 is provided with a line of perforations 30 coincident with the perforations 29 in Wall 10. The lines of perforations 29 and 3t) terminate at a point 31 short of the free edge 15 23 against the bottom of the bag. This tension, therefore, has no tendency to rupture the bagalong these lines of perforations.

Furthermore, by terminating the lines of perforations at the point 31 the regions of the bag Walls directly adjacent to the filling opening remain .imperforate hence these portions are not weakened and are thus able to withstand the lateral tension producedby the outward pressure of the guide elements 19 and 20. Although the lines of perforations extend for less than thelfull length of the side of the bag, they doextend far enough to be intersected by the Sealing line 27, hence thesealed merextendingthe full length of the package. If desired, the bag maybe imprinted as at 32, to indicate to the purchaser that the package may readily be openedrby tearing along the perforated lines 29 and 30. v i

It will be seen that the present invention provides polyethelene bagsor .the like with lines of perforations to facilitate opening the bags after they have been filled and sealed but which are so positioned and dimensionedthat they are not subject to rupture during the normal bagfilling operation.

and so perpendica a prising a pair ofisuperposed rectangular walls made of heat scalable material joined along their bottom and two side edges but free along their top edges to define a filling opening, said walls each being provided with a line of perforations along one of the side edges of the bag, said lines. of perforations extending to the bottom edge of the bag but terminating short of the filling'opening to leave an unperforated region betweentheends of the lines and the filling opening; v j e 2. A methodof producing a merchandise package comprising-the steps of furnishing two superposed rectangular sheets of heat scalablematerial, joining said sheets along their bottom and two side edges to form a bag, leaving the top edges of the sheets unconnected to define a fillingopening for the bag, perforating said sheet along a line near one side edge of the bag and extending from the bottom edge of'the bag to a point spaced from the top edges of said sheets thereby leaving an unperforated region'between said point and the filling-opening of the chandise package 28 is furnished with linesof perforations with indicia, such The invention has been shown and described in preferred form only and by wayrof example and many variations may be made which will fall within the spirit and scope of the invention. the invention is not limited to any specific form ,or embodiment except insofar as such limitations are Set forth in the appended claims. What is claimed. is:

Itis understood," therefore, that 1. A bag for packaging merchandise, said'bag combag, spreading the unperforated region adjacent to the 'top edge of the bag to condition the filling-opening for receipt of an article of merchandise, filling the bag through the filling-opening, sealing the bag along -a line parallel to the bottom edge of the bag andintersectingsaid line of perforations, and discarding the unperforated region of the bag, wherebyin the sealed merchandise package the line of perforations extends the entire distance between the bottom and sealed edges of the bags ReferenceszCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,142,349 Merrill June 8, 1915 1,794,223 Zabek Feb. 24, 1931 2,620,842 [Hoeppner et al Dec. 9, 1952 2,709,467 Hoeppner May 31, 1955 2,805,973 Klasing et al Sept. 10, 1957 2,873,566 Sylvester Feb. 17', 1959 2,929,180 I Abrams et al. Mar. 22, 1960 2,948,999 Sch1ayer et al. Aug. 16, 1960 3,055,575

Gerard Sept. 25, 1962 

1. A BAG FOR PACKAGING MERCHANDISE, SAID BAG COMPRISING A PAIR OF SUPERPOSED RECTANGULAR WALLS MADE OF HEAT SEALABLE MATERIAL JOINED ALONG THEIR BOTTOM AND TWO SIDE EDGES BUT FREE ALONG THEIR TOP EDGES TO DEFINE A FILLING OPENING, SAID WALLS EACH BEING PROVIDED WITH A LINE OF PERFORTIONS ALONG ONE OF THE SIDE EDGES OF THE BAG, SAID LINES OF PERFORATIONS EXTENDING TO THE BOTTOM EDGE OF THE BAG BUT TERMINATING SHORT OF THE FILLING OPENING TO LEAVE AN UNPERFORATED REGION BETWEEN THE ENDS OF THE LINES AND THE FILLING OPENING. 